9/16/2003

Theoryhead Trading Cards

You probably know about these already, dear reader. But, just on the off chance you don't, consider checking out these Theory.org.uk trading cards. "Creative Knowledge You Can Put In Your Pocket." And, apparently, if your favorite theorist isn't present, you can add a card of your own design! Only at theory.org.uk!

9/14/2003

Amazon.com - Terrorist Educators?

Ok, check this out. Sherman Austin was jailed for hosting material on an anarchist revolutionary website that explained how to use explosives. Not a total surprise, but very questionable once you look at the details. So, how the fuck is this list of books at Amazon.com titled SILENT DEATH, supposedly compiled by a Special Forces/Ranger guy, supposed to be acceptable? And why didn't Sherman Austin get a decent lawyer? Seriously, did he and his supporters just totally fuck up or did civil liberties groups drop the ball or what? Are we anarchists just losers, unable to make use of the system when necessary, or are we up against people so deadly that they'll take us out for exercising our rights within their corrupt system because they know that leftists and liberals are not only ineffective, but unwilling to support anarchists cause we call them on their bullshit? These questions are not rhetorical.

Exploiting the Atrocity - Paul Krugman discusses politicians' use of the 9/11 events for political gain. Good preparation for next year's pre-9/11 Republican National Convention and the corresponding Counter Convention.

9/09/2003

Anarchists, Prisoners and Michel Foucault

Recently Sherman Austin was sentenced to a year in jail for hosting a site that included information on explosives, information that was readily available elsewhere, on his larger anarchist revolutionary news site raisethefist.com. Apparently his site was also mirrored by a Carnegie Mellon professor that was not charged and the author of the actual material, whose work was posted on free space that Austin provided, was also not charged. Austin was targeted and misrepresented by government officials in what is basically a free speech case.

Although I am not surprised to see government attacks on projects that support armed revolution, and that is how I see raisethefist.com, nevertheless Austin does seem to have been unfairly targeted. Because of a potentially lengthy sentence and the lack of megabucks, Austin plea bargained and was given a year in prison. His three year probation guidelines effectively remove him from any political activity or association. This is troubling and, if you're interested in offering support to Sherman Austin, go to raisethefist.com for more information.

Anarchists have a long history of support for prisoners, especially political prisoners, and not only because so many anarchists have been imprisoned or otherwise targeted by government forces. Prison represents one of the strongest control tools used by the State in its multiple forms, from the U.S. to Myanmar. One of the manifestations of such anarchist concerns in North America has involved networks of prison support groups including autonomous Anarchist Black Cross groups, the Anarchist Black Cross Federation and the more recently formed Anarchist Black Cross Network.

Currently I'm not keeping up closely with sectarian politics but my quick take on the ABCF and the ABCN, based on prior experience with anarchist politics, is that the Anarchist Black Cross Network is more my kind of thing. For now I will simply link to both groups and such links will be included on netweed's Anarchy page. In general, my discussion of any such group and netweed's linking to any group should not be considered an endorsement. However if I state a clear opinion, then that's my opinion and I'll back it up or change my mind as I deem appropriate.

Foucault is the sort of theorist who is misread both by leftists and those who want to "transcend" politics (i.e. not be bothered with them) as either being irrelevant to daily political struggles or somehow justifying the uselessness of such activity. Although I recognize that multiple readings of any text are the norm, that misreadings can be valuable, etc., etc., Foucault's work is potent because it stops left business as usual in its tracks and requires one to recognize the lack of innocence of both liberatory projects and apolitical perspectives.

Reading biographies by David Macey and by Didier Eribon helped me even more to relate this work to activist practices. Like most of Foucault's projects, Discipline and Punish related to other realms of his life, in part his prison support work at the time. Foucault took what I consider an anarchist stance, though he would not call it that. He worked with groups to help create channels for prisoners to speak and to shift away from prison reform towards support for self-organizing among prisoners. He refused the role of spokesperson for prisoners while taking an extremely public role in prison support.

Though I cannot read French (which really sucks), I find that Foucault is quite relevant in English and that most of those I encounter do not go far enough to really get what he's up to. I feel that looking at additional material helps quite a bit and, of course, rereading, and I don't just mean poststructural reading as rereading. Ya dig?

9/07/2003

Aw, Johnny...

Johnny Depp has now backed off of his "dumb puppy" comments. Look, if he thinks his comments were taken so radically out of context, why doesn't he request a transcript and release that? On the other hand, the press routinely misrepresents those they interview. And editors add to the misrepresentation by creating headlines that often run counter to the intent of stories. I guess I just preferred the first version on this one.

9/05/2003

Spam Caused by Newsletter Publishers?

Here's an esoteric news bit about spam, esoteric in a different sense than I am usually, that is. With spam filters and other devices on the rise, a lot of people who publish email newsletters are getting filtered out. People also change their email addresses a lot, in part because of spam, so newsletter publishers are getting massive amounts of bouncebacks. One solution called for in this article by certain publishers, such as the good folks at Lockergnome, is the use of RSS newsfeeds for which people can register. The article has nice links to the terms used so I won't go into that, but it's a good reason to check out the article.

What I found interesting was the logic of those who are proposing a shift to RSS newsfeeds. Obviously it would be better for the publishers because their newsletters would get to the readers. However their argument is that this move would cut down on spam. Therefore, newspaper publishers are the source of spam!?! Therefore, HAVING NOTHING TO DO WITH SUCH PUBLISHERS makes more since than further cluttering up one's existence with RSS newsfeeds. Fortunately for the publishers, such logical considerations of human discourse are generally not used in daily life, even by academics. Later.

9/03/2003

Ah, France!

One of the great events in the widespread reassessment of outdated revolutionary theory was May '68, the uprising in Paris that focused analysis and action in a variety of ways. Accounts of the time and more recent views indicate that this was a unique uprising that involved a wide range of people and suggested fresh possibilities for autonomous organizing, as did many events of that period.

The spirit of May '68 is often invoked through graphics and graffiti slogans. Much of this perspective has been associated with Situationism, an avant-garde aesthetic, political vein that predated '68 and continues today, though primarily through pro-Situ activists and theorists. The Situationist perspective has spread through pamphlets and détourned comics, comics in which the original intent is turned, undermined, deconstructed.

A variety of texts are now available online and can be found at situationist international online, S.I. Archives, and Bureau of Public Secrets. Though the Situationists were not anarchists per se, their views and actions have had a great influence on anarchists interested in moving beyond essentialist notions of identity and obsessions with workers as the engines of revolution.

Postmodern Theory and Class Struggle

During a period in my life when I had interactions with various folks at the Art Institute of Chicago, I had an interesting discussion with an art critic with poststructural and postmodern leanings. Basically she was into a lot of French theorists plus a lot of art that tended to play with conventions in various ways, some of it fairly fun yet superficial. I say "yet" because fun can be deep, too. I remember discussing art and politics with her and her assertion that theorists had shown that we couldn't discuss politics in terms of any kind of traditional issues or organizing.

Though I think post positions have definitely helped open up critiques of anarcholeftist business as usual, the bottom line is that to use French theory to avoid class struggle is bullshit. Perhaps our differences are indicated by the fact that she was drawn more to Baudrillard and I to Foucault. But that oversimplifies her misreading of her world. And Baudrillard's, for that matter.